What goes in and out of

Hydraulic Fracturing

Dive Down

So What is it?

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside.

There are more than 500,000 active natural gas wells in the US.

To the site

Each gas well requires an average of 400 tanker trucks to carry water and supplies to and from the site.

Heavy Load

It takes 1-8 million gallons of water to complete each fracturing job.

Fracturing Site

The water brought in is mixed with sand and chemicals to create fracking fluid. Approximately 40,000 gallons of chemicals are used per fracturing.

Fracking Fluid

Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking fluid, including known carcinogens and toxins such as…

lead

uranium

mercury

ethylene glycol

radium

methanol

hydrochloric acid

formaldehyde

Down 10,000ft

The fracking fluid is then pressure injected into the ground through a drilled pipeline.

The Math

500,000Active gas wells in the US

X

8 millionGallons of water per fracking

X

18Times a well can be fracked

72 trillion gallons of waterand360 billion gallons of chemicals needed to run our current gas wells.

Shale Fracturing

The mixture reaches the end of the well where the high pressure causes the nearby shale rock to crack, creating fissures where natural gas flows into the well.

Gravity

Contamination

During this process, methane gas and toxic chemicals leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater.

Methane concentrations are 17x higher in drinking-water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells.

Drinking Water

Contaminated well water is used for drinking water for nearby cities and towns.

There have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water.

To The City

Left Behind

Only 30-50% of the fracturing fluid is recovered, the rest of the toxic fluid is left in the ground and is not biodegradable.

The waste fluid is left in open air pits to evaporate, releasing harmful VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) into the atmosphere, creating contaminated air, acid rain, and ground level ozone.

In the end, hydraulic fracking produces approximately 300,000 barrels of natural gas a day, but at the price of numerous environmental, safety, and health hazards.

Don't think it's worth it?

Help support the FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act) which would require the energy industry to disclose all chemicals used in fracturing fluid as well as repeal fracking's exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act.